PJ Black (f.k.a Justin Gabriel), recently spoke with CBS Los Angeles about his decision to sign with Ring Of Honor and the importance of his character.
On signing with ROH over WWE:
Click Here: brisbane lions jersey
“Oh, no pressure at all, because they kind of just remembered me from what I was doing when I was there. And while they did like me and stuff like that, they don’t know the stuff that I’m doing right now. I’ll give you an example, Drew McIntyre, he went back to the indies and just reinvented himself. He did fantastic, and they had to have him back. I was out for a year or two, three years due to a base jumping injury, so I feel like in wrestling, out of sight, out of mind.”
“So they kind of forgot about me, and while they did make a decent offer, it wasn’t strong enough for them and they didn’t force anything on it. Plus, I live in downtown LA, so Survivor Series was in Staples Center, and that’s a block away from my place. So I just walked over one day just to say hi to everyone, and that’s where it all happened. I ran into Vince McMahon, ran into [Triple H], and we started talking. It was never like they kind of reached out first. It was kind of like I was just being at the right place at the right time.”
The importance of developing his character:
“A lot of people don’t know who PJ Black is. I’ve been PJ Black for 15 years. Most people just know Justin Gabriel because he was on TV for seven or eight years. It’s very important for me to show the personality and the character of PJ Black, which is completely different to Justin Gabriel. And they give me freedom and that was the main thing. It wasn’t so much booking and stories that they were gonna give me, but they give me freedom to do whatever I want and that’s how you get yourself over. If people tell you what to do, what to say, how long your match should go, then you don’t have a lot of freedom. So, there’s no way for you to get over. For some guys, there is, but for a lot of guys it’s kind of like being handcuffed in a way.”
CBS Los Angeles